Mineral is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in northwestern Bee County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States. According to the

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

, the community had a population of 50 in 2000. It is located within the

Beeville Beeville is a city in Bee County, Texas, United States. Its population of 13,543 at the 2020 census makes it the 207th-largest city in Texas. It is the county seat of Bee County and home to the main campus of Coastal Bend College. The area ar ...

micropolitan area.

History

Mineral's first settler was Ross "Rust" Morris, who moved to the area from

Montgomery County, Tennessee Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 220,069. The county seat (and only incorporated municipality) is Clarksville. The county was created in 1796. Montgomery Cou ...

, and homesteaded near San Domingo Creek in 1836.

Anson Jones Anson Jones (January 20, 1798 – January 9, 1858) was an American medical doctor, businessman, member of Congress, and the fourth and last president of the Republic of Texas. Early life Jones was born on January 20, 1798, in Great Barri ...

then granted of land to Henry Coley's heirs from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

nine years later. Thomas Malone and Robert Ricks then purchased land from them in 1874. Residents dug wells in the area to find drinkable water, but there was none. It may have been caused by an

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

in the vicinity or mineral deposits of bones from prehistoric creatures. The water was found to have 16 different minerals in it by William and Susan Sanford. People then started to settle in the community when they were told that the water had "healing powers" in 1877 and was called Mineral City. Many residents lived in tents. There was also a hotel called the Sanford Hotel, churches, a

drugstore A pharmacy (also called drugstore in American English or community pharmacy or chemist in Commonwealth English) is a premises which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacist oversees the fulfillment of m ...

and other stores, and a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

in 1877. A post office was established that next year. The excitement of the water's "healing powers" soon disappeared, most likely because the mineral content decreased when the well deepened in 1889. The word "city" was removed from its name in 1895. The hotel disappeared from county maps in 1896.

Agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

was the most common aspect of community life. It had a population of 100 in 1890. It was almost destroyed by a fire in 1901 and then by a flood two years later. The population grew to 200 in 1916. More oil was discovered in 1930. By the end of the decade, there were three churches, one business, and several scattered homes in Mineral. Its population was 150 until it dropped to 50 in 1949 and remained at that number through 2000. There were a few businesses and two

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

churches in 1952, along with the establishment of the South Texas Children's Home. It also had two churches and a store in 1990. Its population grew to 65 in 2010. It was said that the hotel is now a private residence. Although Mineral is unincorporated, it has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

, with the ZIP code of 78125.Zip Code Lookup
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Geography

Mineral is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 623 and 673, northwest of

, northeast of Oakville, southwest of Pettus, and southeast of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

via U.S. Route 181 in north-central Bee County.

Education

Mineral had its own school in 1887. Another school that was built before 1882 had 99 students in the 1898-1899 school year, while the enrollment grew to 125 in the 1905-1906 school year. It eventually joined with the Pawnee Independent School District. It had a school in the late 1930s. It continues to be served by the Pawnee ISD to this day.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Bee County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas